We have been in Salt Lake City three weeks as of today. And we are preparing to leave on Saturday to head south and east again. It has been a nice break to settle in somewhere - especially somewhere familiar. I have enjoyed spending time with family. Having free use of my sisters washing machine. Sitting at her kitchen table each day to do my work.

We have also been ordering online everything we can imagine we might need from new yoga mats that fit in the trailer to gauges and tools for Jason.

When we are on the road mail can be a challenge because it all has to first go to our P.O. Box in Texas and then be forwarded on to our destination. We have to make arrangements with the campground we are staying at to have mailed delivered, and not all of them are open for this. So having an available mailing address at my sister’s house - has us not necessarily panic buying - but it does have us stocking up on things for the road ahead.

I still need to do some grocery shopping, fill the fridge and the freezer, pick up our meds. Jason is off getting the propane tanks filled today so we will have heat and fuel for cooking. I will be running around over the next couple of days picking up some of the items I know I won’t be able to get on the road ahead. The local honey made from clover that is from Northern Utah that we love so much, my tea that I can only find at Whole Foods, the new yogurt we found at a local grocery store, tracking down the instant coffee Jason like to have on the road.

Over the next couple of days we will be checking the tires to make they are secure, testing the pressure. Moving things around inside so they won’t move about while we drive. Filling up the truck with gas.

We are always a bit anxious and excited when it comes time to move. Sometimes, when we are really lucky, a brisk wind picks up and we pretend to be the characters in “Chocolat”, always listening for the wind to tell wheusn it is time to move on.

No wind so far this time but we did stumble upon bear prints this past weekend and I am taking it as a sign - just like the wind.

A sign that our time here is coming to an end and we are ready to hit the road again, to move to our next destination. Like the bear we are preparing our home for the next phase of the season. Stocking up on supplies, battening down the hatches, taking one last long drink of the clear waters that have sustained us in our time here.

I am not an expert at animal tracks, so we weren’t really sure what tracks they were at first. We could see they were very large, and had pressed themselves deeply into the snow. Bigger than a dog’s print. Muscular and strong. At first we thought they might be cougar tracks, or another large cat. But then, as we walked down to the creek, we saw the distinctive claw marks at the edge of the print, and we recognized that unmistakable print of the bear.

It is almost winter here. The snow is starting to come. The bear must be preparing for its winter hibernation. Eating the last of the berries, drinking a cool drink from the creek, loosening up its joints with one last ramble through the woods before a deep long rest.

I have never felt such a kinship with an animal as I did in that moment. I felt the bear was blessing our leaving. Reminding us to prepare - and then to head out. To see the time ahead as a period of rest and hibernation after a frantic and chaotic year. To remember to move with the seasons.

We have a few more days of preparation and then rest.

I am so ready.